In 2023 and 2024, the New Jersey Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission released its annual report recommending sentencing reform across several areas of the justice system in New Jersey. To reduce racial disparities and increase fairness and equity for all, specific changes were recommended to four areas of sentencing reforms: 1) establishing a mitigating sentencing factor for defendants who are survivors of abuse by their victims, 2) the creation of a resentencing release program guided by one’s age, time served, and proof of rehabilitation, 3) the implementation and increase of sentencing discretion including the reduction of excessive financial penalties, and 4) eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenses that also reviews previous sentences imposed on people who were sentenced as children to 30 or more years of imprisonment.
This new study aims to use an experimental survey to assess if and to what extent citizens/members of New Jersey support these four policy changes. To do so, the study will do several things: 1) use an experimentally manipulated stimulus that will randomly present information to participants that assess the four areas of recommendations and a set of outcome measures that gauge participant views, 2) utilize general attitudinal measures to gauge participants’ views across the four areas of sentencing recommendations, 3) have items that control for a wide arrange of variables, including punishment orientations and demographics, and 4) have open-ended survey questions to understand further their views of state sentencing reforms they may believe are important for New Jersey to consider.
Acknowledging the philosophical premises underlying why one may believe a sentencing practice is just or unjust (such as incapacitation, deterrence, rehabilitation, restoration, and retribution), the study will also include measures to examine how participants’ support for areas of sentencing reforms is associated with their views on traditional sentencing goals. As a result, this study will provide valuable insight into whether public support for these various sentencing reforms in New Jersey exists and whether it may vary based on different characteristics and views of those who live in New Jersey.